DURHAM, North Carolina – The Memphis Redbirds fell for the second straight night in North Carolina, dropping an 11-5 decision to the Durham Bulls (Triple-A affiliate, Tampa Bay Rays) on a sunny Saturday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Bulls have taken three of the first five games in the six-game series.
The game was tight early, as Durham (54-28) scored once in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly from Dalton Kelly and Memphis (40-43) answered back with a Juan Yepez solo home run in the top of the fourth. Yepez now has 14 home runs in 56 games with the Redbirds this season. The right-handed slugger has driven in 16 runs in his last 16 games.
The Bulls opened up the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth, as five hits produced five runs and a 6-1 lead for the home team. A leadoff home run from Kevin Padlo and a two-run dinger from Josh Lowe highlighted the offensive output from Durham in the fourth.
The Bulls, for the second straight night, blew the game open in the sixth. They scored five more runs, with a grand slam from Esteban Quiroz completing the outburst in the inning. Durham has scored a combined 16 runs in the sixth inning the past two nights. They’ve hit nine home runs against Memphis this series.
The Redbirds didn’t go down quietly, scoring four runs combined between the eighth and ninth innings. Rayder Ascanio was the shining star. He doubled and scored in the eighth, following it up with a mammoth three-run homer over the 32-foot-high wall in left field in the ninth. Ascanio is 6-11 in the series with two doubles, a home run, three runs scored and four runs driven in.
